Blubberlicious

Despite international restrictions on whale hunting and public concern about plummeting whale populations, Japanese and Norwegian seafood producers have concocted new products to try to drum up demand for the sea mammals' meat. Japan is supplying whale burgers for school lunches, and Norway's Karsten Ellingsen Co. is peddling burgers, steaks and "Lofotskinke," which it calls "pastrami," under the slogan "wild meat from the sea." Environmentalists, naturally, are appalled. The U.K. Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society calls the new products "an attempt to revive a dying industry." But an Ellingsen exec is undeterred, and considers the criticism free publicity. "People will become more and more curious," he said.
-- Debra Jones